


Technological Progress

by forgetme



Category: Naruto
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, Established Relationship, M/M, Phone Calls & Telephones, Phone Sex, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-21 11:58:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6050836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgetme/pseuds/forgetme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi makes a phone call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Technological Progress

The word luxurious didn’t even begin to describe Kakashi’s room. Polished floors gleamed even in the faint light; what little furniture there was seemed to exude and aura of simple elegance. He hadn’t really noticed it the previous night; he’d been too tired after hours and hours of negotiations, all the kage huddled around a giant table, talking until the conversation seemed to Kakashi nothing but a steady buzz, an ongoing unintelligible noise.

Nevertheless, they’d made great progress - most of the trading routes had been successfully renegotiated - and as a consequence they had been able to finish early today. Now Kakashi was as happy as any man who knew he was facing another day of negotiations and a long journey back to his home village could be.

Kakashi let himself sink onto the kingsized bed, turning his back on the gorgeous view of Kumogakure the ceiling-high windows allowed him to see. The village was shrouded in velvety darkness but lit up with a myriad of tiny lights from the windows of distant homes like an ocean of fireflies. It was definitely nice. Kakashi, though, couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the overkill.

He’d just taken a bath in the giant granite tub in his private bathroom. He’d soaked for an hour, almost overwhelmed by the number of soaps and bath oils the servants had left for him. Servants... They were actually regular hotel staff, but they sure acted like servants. Sighing, Kakashi sank deeper into the pillows, all of them fluffy and smelling faintly of fabric softener.

Now that there was peace between the shinobi villages and they couldn’t fight each other on the battlefield anymore, other ways had to be found to prove their superiority. For the moment, Kumogakure seemed to have chosen interior design and customer service as their weapons. The hotel staff was falling over themselves to please their guests and while Kakashi had turned down most of their offers, he’d definitely seen a glint in old man Oonoki’s eyes when the receptionist mentioned massages among their provided services...

Kakashi rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. He’d turned off the lights upon entering; he’d told both Shizune and his Anbu bodyguards that he didn’t want to be disturbed, and yet he didn’t quite feel like sleeping. His body was still filled with a warm buzz from the bath. He wasn’t wearing anything but a soft terrycloth robe which felt pleasant against his sensitive skin.

Annoyed with himself and his inability to go to sleep, Kakashi opened his eyes after no more than a couple of seconds. The room was specked with light from the large windows - as nice as the view was, Kakashi couldn’t help but find his room with its modern minimalist furniture and simple color scheme - black and white and grey with only a colorful bouquet of flowers on the couch table - highly impractical - or highly practical if you were an assassin sent to kill Konoha’s rokudaime Hokage. The windows would make for a great entry point, but if you found that too flashy, there were always the vents, and once you'd gained access through the bathroom…

This kind of thinking came too natural to him. The other kage probably had the same habit. It was unbreakable, for someone who'd lived in this world as long as they had, peace was something one just couldn’t get used to.

Without thinking, Kakashi reached out and touched the white plastic object on his nightstand. This was another new thing he couldn’t quite get used to. He’d been told about the telephone the night before and he’d already used it to call the office back home to get a status report from Naruto, but it it still felt strange. To press the receiver against his ear and hear Naruto’s voice all the way from Konoha, a little staticy but definitely Naruto, miles and miles away, speaking into the same contraption. Maybe it was only natural to be a little wary. The phone lines between Konoha and Kumogakure had only been completed recently, after all, and while he'd worked with radio communication headsets on missions before, their limited range was in no way comparable to this.

Kakashi lifted up the receiver and scooted closer to the phone, the cord brushing against his forearm. He contemplated giving Naruto another call, just to make sure the village hadn’t crumbled in his absence, but he thought better of it. Naruto had been a little offended the night before.

_You should have more faith in me, Kakashi-sensei! You’ve known me all these years!_

_It’s because I’ve known you for so long that I worry…_

His finger hovering over the dial, Kakashi hesitated. There was one number he always had at the back of his mind. Although he barely ever dialed it, he knew it by heart. He'd memorized it a couple of months ago when the first phone lines inside Konohagakure had been completed. Still, it was rare for him to call the house, there was never any need to.

Now that he was holding the receiver, however, he felt a strange longing. It had been a while since he’d last travelled like this, lightly, with only Shizune and a four-man Anbu squad. This was supposed to be a gesture of trust; all the kage had come to Kumogakure with only the barest minimum of entourage.

His fingers moved of their own accord and before he knew it, there was the beep signalling that somewhere on the other end of the line the phone was ringing.

“Hello?” Kakashi smiled against the receiver. As he’d expected, there had only been one ring, and then almost instantly the familiar voice, a little breathless but otherwise as energetic as ever, reached his ear.

“It’s me,” he replied as he pulled the blanket over himself, fully aware that the other person would hear the rustle of bed sheets.

“Kakashi! How are you, Rival? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, negotiations finished early. I’m a little bored…”

“Bored?! You’re the Hokage! On an important diplomatic mission! How can you be bored?! You’re taking this too lightly!” Kakashi held the receiver away from his ear until he was sure the outburst was over.

“Hm? I just said, negotiations finished early.” Before Gai could launch into a rant again, he changed the topic. “What are you doing? Everything okay on your end?”

“Of course! Everything’s great! Lee and Tenten came by for dinner. They brought Metal.” On the last sentence Gai’s voice softened and even Kakashi could feel himself grow a little wistful.

“Oh? Sounds nice.”

“He’s gotten so much bigger already! And his grip is so strong! When he squeezed my finger today I thought he might break it! I’m telling you, Kakashi, Metal is going to walk soon! He’s so far ahead of all the other kids!” There was a moment of silence as Gai caught his breath, then, “Oi, Kakashi, are you listening?”

“Yeah, yeah…” He was trying to sound bored, however the heaviness in Kakashi’s voice didn’t stem from boredom. In fact, he was overcome by a deep longing mixed with a sudden onslaught of loneliness.

He missed this.

“Metal’ll definitely walk before Bolt does,” Gai declared. A faint crackle underlined his voice, the only reminder of the distance between him and Kakashi.

“I guess we’ll have to see about that…” Kakashi shifted. As strange as the feeling was, he couldn’t deny it any longer. He missed _Gai._ Painfully.

The sound of Gai’s voice alone wasn’t enough. He missed Gai’s smell, the warm weight of his body next to Kakashi in bed. The feel of his skin under Kakashi’s hands.

They’d never needed many words for this before. Normally all Kakashi had to do was walk past Gai, brush one hand across his shoulder and slip into the bedroom. Sometimes he would say something like _I’m tired_ or _I’m going to bed_. It didn’t take more than that.

And more often than not, when he came home late from the Hokage office, Gai would already be in bed, so all Kakashi had to do was climb in beside him. In the darkness of Gai’s bedroom - they still had separate rooms, separate beds - things were easy.

Kakashi wasn’t one for big declarations of love, and while Gai definitely enjoyed big declarations of pretty much anything, their relationship seemed to be the exception. It was something that was solely between them, that wasn’t spoken of or pulled into the light.

But when they were alone together in bed…Kakashi shifted under the blanket, the soft fabric of his bathrobe sliding sensually against his skin. Thoughts of the nights he spent with Gai made his pulse quicken. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt such longing, the last time the mere thought of someone had given him an erection.

“Gai, what are you doing right now?” he asked, his voice already a little husky.

“Huh? I’m talking to you, obviously!”

From Gai, an answer like this was to be expected. Kakashi smiled even as he rolled his eyes. “I mean, what were you doing when I called.”

“The dishes. Why?” It was easy to picture him now. Sitting in his wheelchair, checkered dish towel draped over its armrest, the sleeves of his spandex suit rolled up to his elbows, Gai would be reclining against the backrest, the phone against his ear, his hands warm and maybe still a bit soapy. He’d be by the phone in the hallway where the light from the window to the garden would reach him, painting his shadow on the hardwood floor. Konoha was to the west, the time difference between the two villages meant it was still early evening there.

“The kids are gone? You’re alone?”

“Yeah, they left half an hour ago.” Gai’s scars shimmered in thin silvery lines when he moved, catching the fading sunset light just so. Thinking about it made a shiver of excitement run down Kakashi’s spine. His free hand followed this shiver, tracing the edge of his bathrobe to his navel, his skin tingling under his fingertips.

“Any plans for tonight?” Kakashi asked.

“Yes! I have to finish my new training regime and the lesson plan for next week and then there’s this movie on tonight. It’s about this giant, flesh-eating--”

“Are you sure you’re not tired?” Kakashi interrupted before Gai could go into an in depth description about the no doubt awful monster movie.

“Tired?! Why would I be tired? It’s not even eight o’clock!”

“Well, I’m in bed. I took a bath - my room has this huge bathroom with a bathtub big enough for at least five people - and now I’m in bed.” Kakashi paused, waiting for a reaction, but none came. He waited another two seconds, then pointedly added,“Naked.”

It was ignored. “What are you? An old man? Going to bed at eight o’clock! That’s not worthy of someone calling himself my rival!”

“There’s actually a two hour time difference between here and Konoha, Gai.”  A fact Gai knew perfectly well, Kakashi was sure.

“Hmpf.” Gai grunted, self-righteous. “You’re slacking off without me to keep you on your toes, Kakashi! I can tell!” Kakashi could picture him sitting up straighter in his wheelchair, that glow about him, _that_ glow that could be as charming as it could be obnoxious.

The image made his voice soften with regret and longing.

“I’ve been thinking… You would like it here. The hotel’s on a mountain overlooking the village, the view is great, so is the food, the room, everything. You should have come with me. Everything’s been quiet anyway, so bringing you as one of my guards wouldn’t have made a difference.” Taking a breath, Kakashi added, “And if it came down to it, I know you could defend me as well as the best of them.” _If not better._ That, however, wasn’t something he liked to contemplate. It only led to memories of that day, of being forced to watch Gai fight Madara.

“You bet I could!” Gai laughed as though unaware of the weight of the promise between them. “But unlike you, Rival, I’m not an idle man who has time to travel around for fun!”

_Oi, I’m Hokage, you know. And this is a business trip… you just said I was taking this too lightly. Get your story straight!_

As usual Kakashi's exasperation couldn't withstand the wave of fondness washing over him. He sighed. Gai was being his usual over the top self and, so help him, over the years, he’d somehow reached a point where he couldn’t do anything but find this kind of boisterous self-contradiction cute. Meanwhile Gai was rattling off the many ways in which he was indispensible.

“My students need me here and someone has to take care of the house, and then I promised Iruka that--”

The list could go on forever, Kakashi realized.

After they’d moved in together, Gai had kept busy, finding employment at the academy, renovating the house, planting a herb garden and doing a million other things. For Kakashi, much to his own surprise, things had fallen into place as well.

However, there had been a period of time before then, right after the end of the war when Gai was still in the hospital and Kakashi was still engaged in fairly one-sided negotiations with Tsunade and the council regarding his taking over as Hokage when he had felt lost, with no idea where his life was going, whether it had any place left to go at all.

* * *

 

The truth weighed him down, Obito’s true fate, their reunion on the battlefield, violent and short as it was, had left him feeling drained, despite the relief of bringing his students back from the war alive, despite Sasuke’s first tentative steps towards redemption. Obito was gone, so was the Sharingan that for so many years had served Kakashi as a reminder of his friends, that had been his strongest weapon.

He walked around Konoha in this nebulous state, disconnected somehow, even as he visited the memorial - out of habit if nothing else -, spent time with Naruto,Sakura and Tenzou, received short, cryptic letters from Sasuke and occasionally dropped by the hospital to check on Gai.

Then, one day, he happened to run into the elderly couple he paid to keep an eye on his father’s old house, the place where he’d grown up. Ever since his dad’s suicide it had been empty, the house and property more or less abandoned by Kakashi, who couldn’t bear to live there anymore. He’d never rented it out because he hated the thought of strangers living in his family’s home almost as much as he hated the thought of moving back in himself, so when the neighbours offered to take care of the place, he’d gladly accepted.

That day, though, they told him in the kindest, most apologetic way that they really were getting on in years and looking after the property in addition to taking care of their own affairs was too much for them. They thanked him profusely for the small monthly payments he’d given them as compensation - something they had never asked for but Kakashi had felt obligated to do if only to quiet his conscience - and they offered to keep an eye out for potential buyers or tenants, whichever he was looking for.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Kakashi let out a long pained sigh, wondering what he’d done to deserve this on top of everything else.

The first thing he did was go to the hospital where Gai was doing his exercises, diligent as always, and when Kakashi told him about his woes, Gai started to laugh, his old hearty, pre-eighth gate laugh.

“You own a house, Kakashi! And people want you to be the Hokage! Those are not problems!”

“I don’t want either of those things, though,” Kakashi said, knowing full well that he was complaining to the wrong person. When it came down to it, however, Gai was the only one he _could_ complain to, the only one he could talk to without having to slip into any kind of role, be it sensei or senpai or potential future Hokage, with Gai he could simply be Hatake Kakashi.

Gai was in bed, doing biceps curls with a pair of dumbbells. He gave Kakashi a long, pensive look. “I spoke to Tsunade-sama today,” he said, changing the topic while at the same time reminding Kakashi that he truly had picked the wrong person to complain to.

There was a pause and the sentence settled between them with all the weight of its implications.

Kakashi had enough decency to avert his eyes as he quietly asked, “And?”

“She says it’s not going to heal, this rotten leg of mine.”

“I see.”

Gai stubbornly continued his training while Kakashi watched. If his leg stayed the way it was now, Gai would never walk again, that much was obvious. He’d always need the wheelchair he now used whenever he grew tired of being stuck in bed. During the early days of his recovery Kakashi himself had sometimes pushed Gai out into the garden in that very wheelchair. The thing belonged to the hospital and was an old, unwieldy model. Something like that would be impossible to use in Gai’s narrow apartment, which, now that he thought about it, was on the sixth floor of a building without an elevator. Still, Kakashi couldn’t imagine Gai giving up his place. He’d lived there all his life. There was a wall in his bedroom where you could still see faint markings, short horizontal lines, a lot of them of them further down, close together like the rungs of a ladder, and one a little to the left and much closer to the ceiling. The faded writing next to the highest marking read “papa”.

Knowing Gai, he wouldn’t give up, instead he would train tirelessly, thinking that bringing his body to its limits day after day might somehow result in a miracle. And if it didn’t, that would just mean he wasn’t working hard enough.

The thought sickened Kakashi, who could already see Gai’s damned determination in the whiteness of his knuckles, the tightness of the fists lifting and lowering the dumbbells.

Unbidden, an idea began to form at the back of his mind.

“Maybe it’s time to go back,” he said more to himself than to Gai, who nonetheless looked up, his brow creased by confusion.

“Go back? How am I supposed to--”

“Not you. Me.” Now that he’d put it into words, the revelation was upon him. After all these years, he didn’t feel haunted by his father’s shadow any longer. If anything, he’d come to peace with this part of his past. He had the memory of conversing with his father by a campfire, a memory he’d never discussed with anyone, too certain was he that it would be dismissed as some kind of strange near death experience cooked up by his brain to endure the trauma of dying at Pain's hands. He treasured this memory, counting it among the most precious he'd ever made.

His father’s soul, Kakashi was sure, had found peace. So why shouldn’t he be able to do the same?

“Go back to my dad’s house, I mean. It’s a nice place, but too big for just one person and I could definitely use some help fixing it up. It’s been decades since anyone lived there…” he trailed off, waiting for Gai to take the bait.

“You actually want to move back in?” One of Gai’s monster brows lifted as he cocked his head, recalling perhaps the state Kakashi had been in when he moved out.

And how weird, thought Kakashi, was it that Gai had been around back then? And not around like Genma or Kurenai, for example, who were close to him in age, whom he saw at the academy most days but who he never really spoke to outside of class. No, Gai had _been there_ , at his house, lying in wait for Kakashi in the garden to issue a challenge as soon as Kakashi set one foot outside or sometimes even, much to Kakashi’s chagrin, waiting inside whenever Kakashi’s father spotted him hiding in the bushes in front of their home and asked him in.

His father, his sensei, Obito and Rin, those had been the most important people in his life. One by one he lost them, but Gai, who had been there almost from the beginning too, had stuck around, miraculously surviving even the eighth gate.

“Yeah, and I think it’d be good if you moved in with me.” Kakashi’s plan had been to lead Gai around until he came up with the idea himself, but he didn’t have the patience now. Having come this far with him, Gai deserved the honest approach.

“Huh?” Gai blinked, completely confused now.

“I told you, the house is too big for me and I can’t do all the repairs by myself.” Kakashi gave him a lazy shrug, meant to emphasize the inconsequentiality of the whole thing; it was a gesture born from habit.

“You want me to--” Swallowing thickly to steady his trembling voice, Gai paused, too emotional to go on. Kakashi rolled his eyes when, predictably, the tears started to fall. “You want me to move in with you, Rival--” A theatrical gasp the likes of which were rarely heard outside of kabuki plays - unless, of course, one spent a lot of time with Gai.

“We wouldn’t really have to live together; the house is big enough to split it into two apartments. The only thing we’d have to share is the bathroom, maybe the kitchen, unless we remodel one of the rooms upstairs and put in a second kitchen.”

Ignoring his interjection, Gai wept on. He’d even put down his dumbbells. Kakashi sighed, glancing away from the glittering stream of tears cascading down Gai’s cheeks. “Oi,” he said after a solid minute had passed and Gai was still sobbing, “is that a yes or a no?” His voice might have been dripping with exasperation, but it was mostly to hide the smile under his mask.

* * *

 

Contrary to what he’d told Gai, Kakashi hired professionals to get the house ready for Gai’s release from the hospital. There was simply too much to do, especially when taking Gai’s need for the wheelchair into consideration, and Kakashi was definitely not the type to pick up a hammer and go to work himself. Besides, he wouldn’t have had the time anyway, because two days before Gai got out of the hospital, he finally gave in and agreed to succeed Tsunade as Hokage.

Things went surprisingly well. Kakashi had made sure there were enough small things left for Gai to fix, but it turned out that he needn’t have bothered. Gai could keep himself busy. Within the first week of his hospital release he went and got a job at the academy, teaching the first years basic taijutsu, within the second he’d started an herb garden in the backyard of the house and by the third Kakashi and Gai had settled into a comfortable routine.

It was a convenient arrangement and Kakashi congratulated himself for having had this great idea. His fears regarding his move back into the house where his father had died turned out to be unfounded. It wasn’t the same place any more, if anything it was the place where his father had _lived_. Gai’s presence brought life and warmth into the house and reminded Kakashi of the time when his father was still a well-respected man, a legendary shinobi, whose friends and colleagues often dropped by for visits.

Now Kakashi frequently came home for dinner to find Gai’s or his own students already there, having tea with Gai or - in Naruto’s case - shamelessly raiding his fridge. And if it wasn’t them, Gai invited Shizune, Kurenai, Tenzou and occasionally even managed to get Kakashi’s Anbu bodyguards to come in for a snack after shift change, which led to awkward scenes in the morning when Kakashi, still in his pyjamas and rumpled from sleep, wandered into the kitchen only to find codename Hari sitting at the table in full uniform with his mask pushed up just enough to bring a cup of coffee to his exposed lips. During such encounters Gai was usually at the stove, brandishing a spatula and cheerfully offering fried eggs.

The thing was, though, that, no matter how exasperated he sometimes was, Kakashi couldn’t really fault people for liking Gai.

And then came That Night.

The night Kakashi returned home from the office a little later than usual, ate the leftover dinner Gai had left for him in the fridge and then, when he heard the muffled sounds of the TV through the door as he walked past, decided to drop by Gai’s room before going upstairs to his own.

Gai was sitting up on the bed, his back against the headboard, his injured leg propped up on a pillow. He was wearing only a light yukata, its belt tied so loosely that it fell open to his navel. As Kakashi had expected, he was still awake, watching some movie on the television while munching on seaweed chips. The lights were off, leaving Gai in the flickering shadows produced by the glow from the tv set.

When he noticed Kakashi, Gai grinned, waving him closer. “Oh, Rival! Want to join me? This is a good one!”

He scooted and Kakashi lay down on top of the covers next to him. Gai handed him a pillow to put between his back and the headboard. There was just enough space for the two of them on Gai’s fairly narrow bed.

“What kind of monster is it this time?” Kakashi asked as he settled in.

“Giant crab.” Gai winked at him. After a beat he offered the bag of green snacks and Kakashi peeled down his mask to eat.

They sat side by side for a while, legs outstretched, their sides touching, shoulders to ankles, warmth pooling between them.

Lulled by the familiar scent of Gai - fresh from the bath as Kakashi deduced from the softness of his skin when the backs of their hands brushed during simultaneous forays into the bag of chips. And then there was the smell of Gai’s favorite shower gel, a bright green concoction with little bits of glitter in it called Forest of Fresh Dreams, which, Kakashi knew for a fact, was actually marketed towards teenage girls. Anyway, Kakashi grew sleepy. Without thinking, he rested his head on Gai’s shoulder.

On the screen, the giant crab was making its dramatic entrance by snapping a shiny metal tower in half with one claw, that, inexplicably, was already bloodstained. As predictable as the whole thing was, Kakashi had to admit that at least the crab looked extremely realistic.

It was probably the real thing, Kakashi realized as he shifted to get more comfortable, remembering an article about shinobi who used their summons in film productions or actually went and became actors themselves. Lately, Gai had been spending more time with Ningame, too, and feeding him a suspicious amount of herbs and salad, probably in the vain hope that his tortoise would grow monster-sized as well so he could star in his own movie.

“You’re not falling asleep on me, are you, Rival?” Gai asked somewhat reproachfully, his voice rumbling through Kakashi, rousing him from his half-doze.

“Hmmm.” Kakashi’s eyes had fallen shut. Now he opened them to find Gai looking down at him. It was a strange angle. They were close, their cheeks touching, breaths mingling. Seaweed chips and Forest of Fresh Dreams clouding Kakashi’s sense of smell.

His gaze darted to Gai’s lips, then Gai’s eyes. He could read surprise there, could see it vanish in a flash of understanding, the same revelation he saw in the tiny reflection of his face shimmering in the dark pupils.

* * *

 

Over the course of his life Kakashi had become familiar with the sensation of desire slowly opening up to love; he’d dreaded it, of course, and cut off whatever relationship he had before the connection was fully formed, but he’d never experienced it working the other way around.

He’d never thought it was possible for him.

Until it happened.

* * *

 

Kakashi swallowed. He could remember every little detail of that first night with Gai. How they’d kissed while the giant crab raged in the background, engaged in a bloodless battle with the cardboard city around it.

Now he remembered why he had called in the first place. He wanted more than just to hear Gai’s voice and he wouldn’t get what he wanted - needed - unless he was direct.

“Gai,” he said, his voice sharp and breathless. “What are you wearing right now?”

“Huh?”

“What are you wearing?,” he repeated, his impatient fingers slipping past his navel. His skin was hot there, his body tingling with expectation. “I want to picture you.”

“Eh?” Gai’s sounds of confusion did not become any more articulate. Kakashi thought he could hear the creak of the wheelchair as, presumably, Gai shifted.

He took a breath, then, firmly, “I told you. I’m in bed. I just had a bath. All I’m wearing is a bathrobe. Nothing underneath. The lights are off. If you were here now…”

“Kakashi…?” A pause. “Is this…? A dirty phone call?!” Gai’s scandalized exclamation made Kakashi chuckle.

“Maaa…” he drawled, as though his cheeks weren’t reddening. “I guess it depends on whether you want it to be.” In the darkness of his room, with the covers around him, it was a little easier to speak freely. Kakashi took heart. From the other side came nothing but the sounds of breathing. “But I am touching myself, in case you were wondering,” he said, his hand lending truth to the statement by wrapping around his penis. “So tell me what you look like right now. I want to see you.”

He half-expected Gai to hang up.

Instead there was another pause and then Gai cleared his throat. “I’m wearing a Maito Suit, of course!”

“The vest too?”

“No, it got in the way when I was cooking, so I took it off.”

It felt awkward to do this. Gai’s physical presence couldn’t be put into words. What happened to Kakashi during those strange moments, when he stepped through the door after a long day at the office and Gai was there, doing the most mundane of things - watering a potted plant, reading a book, yelling at Lee during one of their insane training sessions - that feeling, that little flip of the stomach, that pull deep in his groin. Kakashi sighed softly, stroking himself. He was half-hard, more from the sound of Gai’s voice than his ministrations.

To Kakashi’s surprise, Gai broke the silence before he could think of something else to say.

“What would you do if I was there with you, Kakashi?” Gai sounded honestly curios.

“I’d kiss you.” That one was easy enough. Kakashi tried to imagine Gai’s lips on his, their warmth, the intensity of Gai, who never did anything halfheartedly. Gai grabbed the back of his neck or tangled his hands in Kakashi’s hair when they made out. He always tried to get as much of Kakashi as he could, his hands wandering all over Kakashi's body. Kakashi’s own hand tightened around his cock. He drew in a sharp breath. “I wish you were here right now. In bed with me. Unzip your suit, Gai.”

So strange to have to say these things when usually all it took was one look, be it in bed or on the battlefield, the briefest locking of eyes, the smallest gesture was enough to convey everything.

Kakashi listened for the whine of the zipper. He heard a faint rustle that could easily have been just static on the line.

“Did you do it?” he asked. His arousal was simmering heat, unsure.

“Yes.” Gai’s voice, warped by desire or distance, it was hard to tell. It still made Kakashi shiver in anticipation, though. And it triggered an idea.

“You have to do what I tell you, but if you come, I get the point.”

“Point?” That had gotten Gai’s attention; it was more familiar territory. “You’re challenging me, Rival?”

“Yeah.”

There was a pause as Gai contemplated his options, then, “What if I make you come first?”

Kakashi laughed breathlessly.“You can always try...”

“Heh, I definitely will, Rival!”

“Touch yourself. With the index finger on your right hand draw a line down your chest. Slowly.” When the next idea hit him, Kakashi’s breath quickened. “Remember that time last week when I kissed you there, all the way down, and then I took you in my mouth.” Gai gasped, whether it was from shock or arousal, Kakashi couldn’t tell. Either way, it was an embarrassing thing to say, something like that. Kakashi’s cheeks were glowing, radiating heat. He curled up more tightly under the covers, stroking himself awkwardly.

The truth was the he didn’t feel like he had the vocabulary for this, despite reading all those erotic novels…Those weren’t his words and he didn’t want to talk to Gai in platitudes.

“I like it,” he told Gai, “taking you into my mouth.”

“K--Kakashi…”

“This is...” _Not enough._ And so embarrassing. Kakashi’s heart was pounding as though he was running a race, as though he was in the middle of one of Gai’s insaner challenges. Only this time he’d been the one to start, so he couldn’t back down now. And what was so bad about saying this stuff? Why did it make his ears burn so hot that he was afraid he might melt the telephone receiver? He wasn’t lying to Gai; it was all the truth. “I wish you were here. I miss the way you taste, the way you feel on my tongue, the noises you make…”

“Ah…” Gai’s breath was quick and light, reminding Kakashi of missions together, close calls and, more recently, nights in his bed. It burned through him.

“Are you stroking your dick?”

“You didn’t tell me to.”

Gai waiting for his orders, Kakashi shuddered at the mental image, the memories. They had been equals on the battlefield, but Gai would always listen to him, for all his bravado and stubbornness, when they were fighting side by side they were two parts of a whole.

“Do it now, touch yourself.”

“Kakashi, I wish I could touch _you_ right now.” The edge of desperation in Gai’s voice was the most delicious thing Kakashi had heard in awhile.

“Hm. Tell me what you’d do.”

“I’d push you up against a wall.” That was almost a growl, surprisingly aggressive.

“Oh?” Kakashi said a little faintly. He had a thought, a thought that pierced him with heat. “You could push me up against the windows. One whole wall of this room is glass.”

The glass would be cool against his hot skin. Kakashi imagined himself, pressed up against it, the village beneath him, and he completely bared. No one would be able to see, of course.Or would they? He, the Hokage, held in this compromising position by his lover. His wrists clasped over his head in one of Gai’s large hands and Gai behind him, taking him.

Kakashi groaned.

“I’d bite your shoulder; I know you like that,” Gai said, sounding, Kakashi thought, somewhat smug.  
“I do. I also like it when you hold me down. When you’re inside of me...” _When you’re on top of me and we look each other in the eye.  
_ His stomach muscles clenched.

All their history condensed into these moments. They would wind their way through Kakashi, heat threading into his capillaries from his body's epicenter to his fingertips, his curling toes.

Dimly, through the haze of memories and over the distance, he heard Gai’s ragged breathing, the sound mixing with the blood pounding in his ears. “I love you” The words were pulled from him, washed up by the rush of desire flooding his system. He'd never said it before, and even now, he'd had no real voice, mouthing the words against the receiver. Whether Gai had understood or not, there was just the sharp hitch in his breath, then silence.

After, Kakashi needed a moment to get his bearings. He wiped his hand on his bathrobe. On the other end, he could hear Gai, still breathing heavily, but recovering as well.

“I won.” The first words out of Gai’s mouth, firm and triumphant. Kakashi couldn’t keep himself from grinning.

“You barely did anything,” he drawled, arguing for argument's sake. Already his body was growing heavier, satisfaction easing into a pleasant sleepiness.

“Hah, Rival, all I had to do was outlast you with my superior stamina! You made it easy!”

“Did you outlast me, though? Sounded like a draw to me.”

“I _did_ outlast you,” Gai protested, ready to defend his honor. “By at least a second!”

Kakashi snorted.

“It counts! And it is beneath you to haggle over points, Kakashi! A gentleman should accept defeat gracefully!”

“Well, I guess I can let you have it for now.” Kakashi smirked as his grip tightened around the telephone receiver. “But there’ll be another challenge when I get back, you know.” He had a couple of ideas already. His heart felt light. “You better prepare yourself.”

Gai laughed, a new, raucous edge to the familiar sound that sent a tingle of excitement through Kakashi. “You should know by now, Rival, I’m always prepared!”

Kakashi cleared his throat, pushing aside this strange feeling of elation fluttering in his chest. “Anyway,” he said, “I’m getting on the ship tomorrow night, so it’ll be a couple more days.”

“Got it.”

“And Gai?”

“Hm?”

_Did you hear what I said earlier?_

In the darkness where no one could see, Kakashi shook his head.

“Nothing," he said. "Take care.”

end.


End file.
